Daryl Bell: Hopping mad about Dick Allen not being in the Hall of Fame

The Frog is angry.

Mark Carfagno, who is known to many as Frog, is upset that a close friend, Dick Allen, was laid to rest Saturday in Western Pennsylvania. A native of Wampum, a borough in Lawrence County with a population of 717 according to the 2010 census, Allen has returned to an area of the Keystone State that he loved.

The Frog is irate because Allen, the first Black baseball superstar in the history of the Philadelphia Phillies, wasn’t awarded a place in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum before dying on Monday, Dec. 7, 2020. He was 78 years-old.

Ironically, had it not been for the coronavirus pandemic, he would’ve probably been announced as a Hall of Famer on the day that he died.

“They were scheduled to meet and vote on Dec. 6,” said Carfagno, who has been leading a “Dick Allen Belongs in the Hall of Fame” group for several years. “They would’ve announced it on Dec. 7. I’m angry because my friend didn’t have the letters HOF behind his name when he died.”

“I had a feeling something like this was going to happen. I knew he wasn’t in good health and I wanted him to be around when he was honored as a Hall of Famer. He deserved it.”

In 2014, Allen appeared for the first time as a candidate on the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Golden Era Committee election ballot for Hall of Fame consideration in 2015. He and the other candidates all missed getting elected by the committee, Allen was one vote short of the required 12 votes needed for election.

Every three years, the Golden Era Committee met and voted on 10 selected candidates from the 1947–1972 era until 2016. That’s when it was replaced by the Golden Days Committee.

Many thought Allen would receive that long-awaited phone call last week. That hope disappeared in August when the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum board of directors unanimously voted to reschedule this winter’s two Era Committee elections.

Allen was set to be on the Golden Days Era Committee ballot for consideration in the 2021 Hall of Fame class. The Golden Days Committee is now scheduled to vote again in 2021 for induction into the Hall’s Class of 2022.

“With the nation’s safety concerns, the travel restrictions and the limitations on group gatherings in effect for many regions, it is not possible to ensure that we can safely and effectively hold these committee meetings,” said Jane Forbes Clark, chairwoman of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

“The Era Committee process, which has been so effective in evaluating Hall of Fame candidates, requires an open, yet confidential conversation and an in-person dialogue involving the members of the 16-person voting committee. In view of these concerns, the Board of Directors has decided that the Golden Days Committee and the Early Days Committee will instead meet during the winter of 2021,” she said.

Frog is incensed every time he hears her remarks.

“Baseball has been voting for every other post-season award,” he said. “Everything is being done virtually now. Why couldn’t the Golden Days Committee and the Early Days Committees meet? They said something about they wanted everyone in the same room. That’s a bunch of crap!”

The Phillies retired Allen’s No. 15 on Sept. 3. He was in attendance at a brief but touching ceremony held at Citizens Bank Park. The club said it plans to honor Allen in 2021 when, hopefully, fans will return to the stadium.

There haven’t been many African-American superstars on the Phillies. In fact, the club hasn’t had many home-grown superstars who have put up numbers worthy of induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Allen has the stats and probably should’ve been there years ago.

Allen supporters were preparing for a celebration in December 2017 when the Golden Era Committee was scheduled to vote. But in 2016, the Hall restructured the committee, forming two voting groups — Modern Baseball (1970-1987), which voted in 2017, and Golden Days (1950-1969), which was scheduled to vote in December.

Although Allen’s career spanned both eras, his candidacy was pushed back to 2020 because the Hall considered his best years came with the Phillies in the 1960s.

But actually, Allen’s achievements were evenly divided between both eras. He was an All-Star for seven seasons (1965-67, ‘70, ‘72-’74). In addition to winning the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 1964, Allen was named the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 1972 while playing for the Chicago White Sox.

During his 15-year major-league career, Allen batted .292, including seven seasons (1964-67, 1972-74) at the .300 mark or higher. He also hit a total of 351 home runs. Of those homers, 177 came with the Phillies in the 1960s but the rest were hit in the 1970s and included the only two times he led the American League in home runs (1972, 1974).

“He’s going to get in, I’m sure of it,” Carfagno said. “It’s just a damn shame that he won’t be here to accept [the honor]. That’s what bothers me. Dick Allen was a good man. He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.”